Donia Presler was born in 1929 born in Tulchyn. Her father was a musician. Her mother worked as a glazier. She had two sisters, one of whom died in the Pechera camp. She finished four years of Yiddish school. During the war, she was imprisoned in the Pechera camp for four years.
Other Interviews:
Passover SoupShow Trial in the Camp
Inside the Camp
A Little House with a Dirt Floor
A Family Played the Fiddle
"Christ has risen"
The Torgsin Store
Homentashn
Avrum-Yosl the Glazier
Tulchyn, Ukraine
Occupations tended to run in the family. Not only did Donia Presler's father's side of the family pass on musical skills from one generation to the next, but her mother's side also passed on their glazier expertise.
Since gigs as a klezmer musician were hard to come by, Presler’s father had to supplement his income with artisanal work. In this clip, Donia describes how her parents carried on the glazier tradition Donia's mother inherited from her grandfather Avrum-Yosl. Donia's parents made a living by selling windowpanes in Ukrainian villages surrounding the town of Tulchyn.